Tag: The Man Who Made Friends with Electricity

Masters of the Weird Tale: Fritz Leiber was first published in 2016 by Centipede Press as Hardbacks

A vast collection of Fritz’s darker stories, published by Centipede (as a collection of two hardbacks), who always do a lovely job with their books, a companion piece to Masters of Science Fiction. The good selection of stories selected by John Pelan is complimented by a great cover. Released in a signed edition.

Contains a very wide range of stories, covering all the periods of his writing . Although duplicated heavily in The Best of Fritz Leiber, the inclusion of such stories as The Girl with Hungry Eyes, Smoke Ghost and The Secret Songs make it an excellent collection. Available in the UK only.

“SF and Fantasy stories of considerable variety and idiosyncrasy, many of them reprinted from earlier Leiber collections. As well as early standards like ‘The Smoke Ghost’, it include some interestingly unclassifiable tales from the 1960s such as ‘The Winter Flies’; and the title piece. ‘Every story in the book is finished with a craftsman’s care, and they are all thoroughly readable. M. John Harrison – New Worlds”.

A quite superb selection. Billed as 50 years of Fritz Leiber many of the stories are uncollected before and the others are classics.

Notable Editions: Numbered, lettered and slipcased editions released

Kirkus Review
The cream of octogenarian Leiber’s fantasies, holding 50 years of stories (44 selections) in one giant volume that can be seen as the capstone of Leiber’s storytelling–although he has written some well-remembered novels (Gather, Darkness and Conjure Wife, filmed excellently as Burn, Witch, Burn). The present collection includes the second earliest swords-and-sorcery fantasy in Leiber’s Grey Mouser and Fafhrd series “”Two Sought Adventure”” (1939) and the latest, “”The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars”” (1983). “”Curse”” may be Fafhrd and Grey Mouser’s swan song, in that they die–for a while. If their deaths turn out to be only flirtations with death, the farewell notes seem to have sounded.

There’s not a dumb story in the book, though some–such as “”Poor Superman,”” the story of a gigantic artificial intelligence–have been outdone by others. Leiber’s classiest acts are here: “”The Automatic Pistol,”” in which a dead hood’s pistol pursues his murderer; “”Smoke Ghost””–a juicy updating of just what a modern ghost should be like (“”A smoky composite face with the hungry anxiety of the unemployed, the neurotic restlessness of the person without purpose, the jerky tension of the high-pressure metropolitan worker. . .the aggressive whine of the panhandler. . .and a thousand other twisted emotional patterns. Each one overlying yet blending with the other, like a pile of semi-transparent masks. . .””); “”Gonna Roll the Bones,”” “”Ship of Shadows,”” “”Ill Met in Lankhmar,”” and the ironic antidefamation fantasy “”Belsen Express””–which is a gasser. Leiber’s best collection ever.

This is a wide ranging collection of his stories and, as an introduction to his work, probably one of the best available. It concentrates on his SF/Fantasy but doesn’t contain Fafhrd & Mouser stories, or his horror stories such as ‘Smoke Ghost’. It opens with a brief introduction by Leiber , some editions contains a warm tribute by Poul Anderson. Amazon claim to have a Kindle Version, this is called ‘Selected Stories‘ and is a different collection.

“Twenty two stories by this talented author whose work has ranged widely across the genres of fantasy and SF. The Hugo and Nebula award winning ‘Gonna Roll The Bones’ is an effective horror story. ‘Space Time For Springers’ is a delightful tale about cats. Other powerful pieces, which more closely fit the definition of SF, include ‘Coming Attraction’ and ‘America the Beautiful’.”The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction – David Pringle